Overexposed WWE and AEW Stars Who Need Less TV Time

With WWE and All Elite Wrestling both boasting incredibly deep rosters of talent at the moment, television time can be hard to come by, making every minute count.

The companies tend to showcase their top wrestlers a decent amount and rightly so. If they're the most entertaining parts of the program, then they should be spotlighted fairly frequently and prominently.

However, there are certain competitors whose storylines aren't the most engaging but continue to be featured far more than they should be.

It isn't a knock on those particular performers as much it is on those in charge for having them appear too often. Fans start to grow tired of seeing the same song and dance over and over again and can eventually resent those same stars.

These are the overexposed athletes from WWE and AEW who could greatly benefit from a little less TV time.

By early 2022, Inner Circle had officially overstayed their welcome. The faction helmed by Chris Jericho started off as one of the better parts of AEW programming in its infancy but became a hindrance for everyone involved toward the end.

That was why the tension being teased within the ranks of the group heading into Revolution 2022 in March was so refreshing. It looked like The Demo God was finally about to branch off on his own, at least until he introduced Jericho Appreciation Society to take the place of Inner Circle.

The veteran remained aligned with Jake Hager and replaced Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz with 2point0 and Daniel Garcia. They've had some decent on-screen chemistry together, but Jericho Appreciation Society (ridiculous name and all) haven't taken off at all after over three months.

Their Anarchy in the Arena battle with Kingston and company at Double or Nothing was largely well-received by fans, but there's still something missing from their weekly segments on television. Most of their material tends to blend together and isn't in any way engaging or entertaining.

In other words, there's no justification for them being featured as much as they are.

Few WWE Superstars are more dedicated to their craft of being a genuine heel than Baron Corbin.

He's played the role so well throughout his entire tenure with the company that he's never once been embraced by the audience and has always been an antagonist. He's undergone countless character changes, but Happy Corbin hasn't been one of his best.

Through no fault of his own, nothing he's been involved in this year has been overly memorable or meaningful in any way. His lengthy feud with Drew McIntyre didn't accomplish much outside of getting them both on the WrestleMania 38 card, and it remains to be seen whether Madcap Moss will be any more over as a singles star now that he's broken away from Corbin.

His matches have been perfectly fine, and even some of his promos have been solid. But at a time when SmackDown's depth has arguably never been worse, putting Corbin on television more isn't the answer. He simply doesn't add much to the product with his current character, though that could change at some point.

The fact that he is rarely absent from WWE programming doesn't exactly help.

Dan Lambert has competed in a grand total of one match since joining AEW last summer, yet it feels like he's featured far more than anyone else on the actual roster.

He was actually a breath of fresh air at the time when he was originally used in a one-off angle with Lance Archer last summer on Dynamite. His passion for pro wrestling and silver tongue on the mic made him stand out as an on-air character, but it quickly became apparent AEW had zero clue what to do with him.

His pairing with Men of the Year started out fine, but with Lambert receiving more attention than Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page combined, they were worse off with him by their side. Sky has since become a two-time AEW TNT champion, but neither of his reigns has been anything out of the ordinary.

This is due to how often Lambert is positioned as the focal point in his desperate attempts to garner heat. He's thankfully toned down his shtick a bit, but he's still unbearable to listen to a majority of the time.

Lambert would have been much more effective as a manager if he wasn't featured on almost every episode of Dynamite and/or Rampage since September.

Elias was hardly a thought in anyone's mind earlier this year, but the WWE TV debut of his apparent alter ego Ezekiel, claiming to be his younger brother, has been way more entertaining than it has had any right to be.

Kevin Owens is largely responsible for making it work as well as he has, and their weekly segments on Raw since early April have been a recurring highlight on the program. They even had a perfectly solid match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view this past weekend.

That said, the character has reached a point where there isn't much more to do but move on to the next chapter or just abandon it entirely. WWE has done a decent job of furthering their feud week after week, but in becoming a regular on Raw, Ezekiel was made to look competitive against other members of the roster and it simply wasn't believable.

Ezekiel and Owens have taken the storyline as far as it's going to go. It wouldn't be wise of WWE to continue featuring Zeke as prominently as it has going forward if it wants to avoid the joke losing its luster quicker.

Less is more with a gimmick such as Ezekiel, and hopefully the company will learn that lesson before it's too late.

Adam Cole is without question one of the most naturally gifted performers—both in the ring and on the mic—on the AEW roster with an absurd amount of upside.

Even someone as skilled as he is can fall victim to being overexposed, though.

It isn't an issue that's been exclusive to Cole in AEW, either. He faced a similar problem in NXT when he was on TV almost every week and was involved in the same sort of stuff. And although it was usually enjoyable, his constant appearances made him feel less special.

That's become the case with him in AEW as well. He remains extremely over with the audience and isn't in jeopardy of becoming just another guy, but it's unnecessary for him to be so heavily featured almost every week on Dynamite and Rampage.

The AEW roster is so stacked with star power at the moment that it would be nice for Cole to take a week off every once in a while to allow others to get some spotlight for a change. That would also make it easier to kill time with his character until Kenny Omega inevitably returns to confront him and kick off that rivalry.

Cole could use a bit of a break to feel fresh again and avoid the stigma of being shoved down fans' throats.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.